So the other day I went to see “Bol” with a friend of mine. Now if I was to write an elaborate review about the movie, it would be something that most people would expect. However this is not a review of the movie, but I would like to state here that unlike a lot of people who did not like it, my opinion differs tremendously from them. Whereas most people thought that the story line was weak along with the acting. I feel that the story was well written with room for improvement. However the acting from certain people could have been much better. Overall it was a great effort on Mr. Shoaib Mansoor’s part for bringing the joy of quality cinema to the people of Pakistan who had sadly lost their faith in the creativity of its own people.
Coming to the point, I guess if one looks at the details more closely than one can surely identify the cracks, however nothing is perfect anyways. What bothered me the most is the fact that even our educated class is now insensitive to the consequences of exposing young minds to explicit content? Whether a movie was good or bad is something that comes later on, the first step for any movie goer is make a clear note of the content of a particular presentation. Considering some of the social issue topics which the movie explores, there was a lot of content, both dialogue and depiction, that was affect a young, naïve mind. Contrary to this statement, when I visited the cinema with my friend, I saw a number of families who had brought their children of varying ages starting from age 2. In fact the two people sitting right next to me on one side were two very young children who were completely caught up with the depictions on the screen while their mother sat there with little or no interest as to how the content could affect her children’s thought process and behavior.
Surprisingly, this is not the first time that I have witnessed this complete lack of care and thinking in the behavior of parents. In the past as well I have noticed how parents who are avid fans of the cinema, tend to drag their children along irrespective of the fact that the film contains inappropriate content. Now, these couples could have baby-sitting issues for all I know, but what happened to the good old concept of the self-sacrificing parents who would cherish their children’s interest more than their own?
If we only step back and consider some of the cases in the past regarding the piles of research which has already been conducted on the effects of viewing age inappropriate content on the psyche of a subject, we can easily find cases that prove that such content can leave permanent scares. Have they all forgotten the cases which surfaced after the clips of Saddam Hussain’s hanging was aired on television and how it was deliberately taken off air the same day? One such case took place within Karachi that day where a boy hung his own brother during playtime since they were re-enacting the clip as seen on television. And let’s just face it, it is not only the clips on television, it’s in medium of communication whether big or small which we have in our lives these days.
Inappropriate messages are being transmitted all around us, something we can do little about. However, it’s not like we can do nothing. Protection and a proper filtration mechanism is the sole responsibility of the parents. Young minds are like sponges, they will absorb as much as they can, and it is our role that we feed these sponges with as much positivity as possible to ensure that when they become active members of our society, they spread the same positivity further. This is something that one can and should expect from educated parents, but when you get to observe such phenomena, it is only heartbreaking since we are already on the brink of a disintegrated society with deteriorating moral values and beliefs. Instead of strengthening these, we continue to move towards a state of further depletion. If this is what one calls being liberal and giving freedom to their children, then I am sorry for I do not agree with this school of thought on upbringing. This only show the carelessness and the insensitivity on part of the parents who cannot even take out the time to monitor the positive and the negative stimuli which their children are picking up from the environment.
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